A little light in the life of two

When your conversation is fragments and "noʻs" and your only exercise is grabbing a baby and pulling another one away, I suppose you are moved to write.

This post is mostly for my friend Brandi who is expecting twins, but also for those who need education in knowing friends, relatives or just some lady walking down the street who has twins. Letʻs show a little more empathy. There are books who preach, there are teachers who teach, there are lactation consultants who think they know boobs and body better than your life and tell you so. They donʻt really know your situation, and you really cannot know what they are talking about until you have twins, but at least this will give you somewhat of an idea of what they go through each day. (It is safe to say, Iʻm sure parents who have adopted children have similar discontent with ignorant bystanders.)
In no way am I complaining or using my children as an excuse. Do I want to throw a fit from time-to-time because itʻs the SAME THING EVERY DAY? Sure, but then I think of my sisters Briana and Elise who have 4 kids and a set of twins each and my cousin Meaghan who has 5 kids and 2 sets of twins, and then I realize, my life is a cake-walk to what they had/have to go through. Iʻm just telling you, the twin schedule IS the rule and you cannot mess it up or change it. If you do, it is hell for you and your husband.

Let me give you a run-down of what my day looks like:

AM
9:30:  babies wake up, they get changed and clothed. Then, itʻs my turn.
10:00: breakfast time
11:00 milk time
11:30 I get to eat
PM
12:00 play and probably change 2 soiled diapers during this time as well.
1:00 lunch time
1:40 milk time
2:00 nap time
2:30 This is where I get my time. I get to choose, do I exercise or clean? Or maybe half and half? Today Iʻve decided to write and maybe get in 40-45 min of cycling.
4:30 Chancey wakes up and gets to stretch a bit with me. Chancey doesnʻt sleep as long or as heavy as Vanessa. Just as long as they both have 2 hours at least, that is great!
Oh ya, I forgot about lunch for me. Oh well!
5:00 Vanessa wakes up and I start dinner. I can usually get away with them playing well together or maybe Matt has come home and he can watch them a bit before they eat.
6:00 They eat and if I plan it right, Matt and I can eat at the same time. Sometimes this works. Otherwise, they play or hang off our legs while we eat. Not as fun.
7:00 Milk and they go down for a little 1-hr nap
8:00 or 8:30 Dinner time (again)
9:00 Every other night itʻs bath night
9:30 or 10:00 Vanessa and Chancey go down for the night
10:30 I get to shower, clean up what I can and try to get to sleep before midnight.

Brandi, the best advice I got was take whatever anyone wants to give you! They are just trying to help in the way they know how! Even if you donʻt end up keeping it. (That goes for the hospital too!)

The best advice for those who want to help? Do things like clean the dishes, dust, go get groceries, hold a kid!

This schedule is, of course, when they turn about 9 mo or 10 mo. These kids were eating every 2 hours sometimes. At the beginning when I tried breast feeding, they wanted to feed every other hour. Thatʻs when I decided pumping was the route for me, and could see how much milk they were getting. That was also quite time-consuming. What am I trying to say? I think you know: your life is babies.

Matt and I figured we changed about 1,000/ month for the first little while. :O

Yes, theyʻre twins, no, they arenʻt identical. Yes I do have my hands full, no, I didnʻt know I was going to have twins. Yes, itʻs a lot of work, no, Iʻm not going to tell you if I want more children right now or any at all after twins! And if I used or if I did not use fertility is NONE of your business!